Ahem. I just had to write that all-caps headline. Broadcom's wireless chips - used by just about everybody in this industry - have been a major pain in the bum for Linux users, because the company did not release open source drivers. Workarounds had to be created, lots of pain was had in the process, but now, Broadcom has finally seen the light: they have open sourced their wireless Linux drivers.

Being separate from Xorg means that the Nvidia driver is incompatible with recent developments in the X stack, such as kernel modesetting (KMS).

Look, Hans, the X server is a certified piece of crap. Unfortunately nothing better exists. Thus we have to make do with this abomination.

It will mean also that it might become possible for X to crash and be re-started without having to close applications or login sessions.

Oh! Already? How marvelous. And here I thought, Linux was behind the times.

Very soon, if not already, Nvidia will be very much the non-preferred graphics option for use with Linux machines. It may still be possible to run Linux on a Nvidia graphics machine using the nouveau open source driver, but that project is regrettably falling further and further behind in capabilities.

Why should I give you a break when you simply dismiss, with irrational venom and no actual point, the sound reasons why a closed binary driver is not preferable?

Me thinks DerGenosse is just a certified troll. I can't imagine any legitimate Linux user liking the situation, where you need to get by on a sub-par 2D driver until you can install the NVidia binary blob or the situaton where you have to wait months before NVidia gets around to make their blob compatible again with the next iteration of the X server.

An open source driver, maintained by NVidia and shipped out of the box, would be leaps and bounds better for usability then the current mess with hooking their closed blob in the mix after installation.

The NVidia driver being closed source does nothing inherently to enhance the quality. closed or open, the code remains the same. Being closed does however reduce the ease of use / end-user experience considerably in comparison to FOSS drivers shipped out of the box.

Look, Hans, the X server is a certified piece of crap. Unfortunately nothing better exists. Thus we have to make do with this abomination.

This is a falsehood too often repeated, so much so that some probably think it's true. X has problems, but so does any large block of code.

Do you actually have a basis for this fallacy or are you just parroting what other people say because "I can do $a in Windows but I don't know how to do it in X! I'll bet that $b feature of X that I don't use is the cause, therefore I'm sure it's not worth having! QED, X sucks." If this sounds like you then please stop talking about X.

Please! Give me a break! Nvidia works. Now. Case closed.

I agree, which is why for years I have bought nVidia cards despite them being closed source. I am not Stallman; works trumps doesn't work. In the future I won't do this, because when I have works+closed and works+open I'll take the latter, even if it has a few more bugs.